A Closer Look at Taxing Millionaires for EVs & Wildfire Prevention with Prop 30

Prop 30

Provides Funding for Programs to Reduce Air Pollution and Prevent Wildfires by Increasing Tax on Personal Income Over $2 Million. Initiative Statute.

“Prop. 30 would impose a 1.75% personal income tax increase on the top-earning Californians — for the share of their income above $2 million — per year to fund a suite of climate programs. The goal is to clean up the state’s dirty air and help meet ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.” Cal Matters

From the Legislative Analyist’s Office

Funding

Where do 2+ millionaires live & how much would they be taxed?

The following map shows how many millionaires would be taxed under this proposition & the subsequent income that would be raised in 2020 USD.

How do we calculate these numbers?

The American Community Survey reports how many people make over $200,000 annually by where they live. Using information from California’s tax board, we can distribute the total number of people making over $2 million annually in the state & the amount of money they would pay proportionally to each community based on the percent of people making over $200,000.

EV Infrastructure

Where could future EV chargers be built?

The “Current DCFC” layer is a map of the publicly available DC fast chargers across California. Almost all fit the “Corridor Charger” criteria (they are within 1 mile of a highway). The area aroud the charger stations indicates a radius of 25 miles. The NEVI guidelines want charging stations installed every 50 miles.

Notice the gaps in California. The interesting and debatable part comes now. How should we define a “Charger gap”? and estimate where the extra revenue from Prop 30 funds should be deployed (keeping in mind NEVI formula funds will be deployed for the gaps).

The “Existing Substations” layer is where electric grid substations are located across California. The general guidance is to install a DCFC charging station within 2-3 miles of a substation. (The light blue circles are a buffer zone of 3 miles from the substations.)

New chargers could be built anywhere gaps exist in the charging network where electric substations already exist.

Where does this data come from?

The

Wildfires

The map below highlights Fire Hazard Severity Zones in California:

Where does this data come from?

The maps is from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection website